From raw concept to global dominance. The world's most advanced forge for the modern author.
How it works
Every author walks the same path. The portal goes with you on each step.
Onboard
No card. Pick: I have Drive work, local files, or starting fresh.
WELCOME
DNA Interview
Reveals your book's argument, audience, and natural structure.
THE SALON
DNA Interview · Tue 2pm
Calendar invite sent
Auto-transcribed + AI summary
Capture
Scribe AI synthesizes your weekly notes into chapter angles.
SCRIPTORIUM
The Forge
3-pane IDE, AI in your voice, every save is a restorable revision.
Outline
· Ch 1
· Ch 2 ●
· Ch 3
Chapter 2
The story begins...
✨ Assist
Voice: Didion
Revise
Three rounds of voice-conforming rewrite, side-by-side approval, full restore history.
AUTO-REVISE
Original
She walked slowly...
Revised
She moved as if...
Press
ISBN, galley, cover, audiobook, print-on-demand to 8 platforms.
DISTRIBUTION
Launch
AI marketing kit, beta reviewers, sales dashboard.
OBSERVATORY
Gutenberg Score
8.4
Week 1: 142 copies sold
Every step works on its own. Bring a finished manuscript? Skip to step 6. Just an idea? Start at step 2.
What we do
Architect your vision. Multi-panel writing IDE with AI assist that learns your voice. Auto-revision history, figures, readability analytics, live preview.
Refine your manuscript. AI auto-revision in your voice, chapter critiques, in-portal Approvals queue with full revision history. ISBN, galley, cover design, audiobook production.
Scale your masterpiece. AI marketing kit (social, email, PR), 14-day post scheduler, beta reviewer flow, distribution to 8 retailers, sales analytics.
See it in action
Every page of the portal is built so an author can sit down and write without thinking about software.
Dashboard
Your active manuscripts.
The Long Tomorrow
A memoir of slow disasters
40,300 / 65,000 words
Quiet Math
Essays on numerical solitude
Score 8.4 · ISBN ✓
All your projects in one place. Pipeline stage, word count, and Gutenberg Score at a glance.
Outline
Chapter 2 · Roots
There was a house, and then there wasn't. The kind of slow erasure that becomes invisible until someone, years later, points at where the rooms had been. I'm trying now to draw a map of those rooms from memory…
Saved 3s ago · 2,140 words · Grade 9.2
AI Assist
"Suggest the next paragraph"
The rooms held a particular silence — not absence but residue…
Distraction-free writing with AI assist that knows your voice. Auto-revision history means you never lose work.
Scriptorium
Mon · 7:42pm
readers don't want explanations. they want the smell of the kitchen.
Wed · 6:11am
chapter on "the year the dishwasher broke" — needs to be funnier and shorter.
⚡ Scribe AI synthesis · Mon 9am
Three angles proposed:
1. Chapter "Domestic Wreckage" — open with the dishwasher scene, treat it as a stand-in for marriage erosion.
Drop ideas the moment they hit. Every Monday, Scribe AI proposes 2-4 chapter angles from your week's notes.
Stage 1
Idea to Book
$1,499
Stage 2
Draft to Book
$4,999
Repeat buyer · 50% off
Stage 3
Polished to Press
$11,999
Transparent SKUs. Pay once per book, repeat-buyer 50% off, no hidden retainers. Cancel monthly Author Portal anytime.
Beta read invitation
A memoir of slow disasters
📖 Open the galleyRating
Feedback
Send beta readers a private link — no account needed. Their rating, comments, and blurbs flow back to your dashboard.
Gutenberg Score
8.4/ 10
9.1
Completeness
8.5
Quality
7.8
Interviews
8.0
Production
9.0
Freshness
Week 1 launch
See your manuscript readiness score, the AI-written weekly exec summary, and post-launch sales by channel.
See how our model saves you time and money compared to traditional publishing.
Instant Capital Advantage
$23,001+ Saved
Accelerated Release: ~12 Months Faster
How we stack up
Honest comparison against the publishing routes most authors consider.
|
CD-Publishing Stage 3 |
Reedsy Freelance marketplace |
BookBaby Hybrid publisher |
Vellum + KDP DIY tooling |
Scribe Media Full ghostwrite |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-service price (250 pg) | $11,999 | $5–25k (à la carte) | $1,500–5,500 | $249 + your time | $25,000–80,000 |
| Time to press | 4–6 months | 6–18 months | 9–12 months | Your call | 12–24 months |
| Royalty share to author | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100%* |
| AI editorial pass on your draft | AI in your voice | $1–3k freelance editor | Editor on Premium+ | — | Ghostwriter ✓ |
| AI-assisted ideation + draft | ✓ (voice protocol) | — | — | — | — |
| AI marketing kit | ✓ | $300–800 add-on | $799 add-on | — | Add-on |
| Audiobook production | ✓ option | $3–8k freelance | $3,500 add-on | DIY via ACX | ✓ |
| ISBN + distribution | ✓ (8 channels) | $150–500 | ✓ | DIY | ✓ |
| Print-on-demand at near cost | ✓ (~$8/book) | via Lulu/Ingram | Print packs | via KDP | ✓ |
| Export your manuscript anytime | ✓ (.docx, .md) | N/A | Contractual | ✓ (it's yours) | Contractual |
| Pay-per-book, no retainer | ✓ | Per-service | Package fees | One-time tool | Multi-year contract |
*Scribe contracts often include success-fee components on book sales. CD-Publishing never takes a cut of royalties.
Competitor prices and timelines based on publicly published packages as of 2026. We respect every alternative listed — they're all legitimate paths to a finished book.
Pricing
Three pipeline stages, plus targeted add-ons. One-time per book, no surprise fees.
Stage 1
$1,499
one-time
Stage 2
$4,999
one-time
Stage 3
$11,999
one-time
Already have a finished manuscript?
ISBN + distribution + AI marketing kit + print-on-demand. Skip editorial entirely.
Add-on
$799
AI-generated launch package: social, email, PR.
Add-on
$2,499
AI narration default; human upgrade available.
Print on demand
from $8
Worldwide shipping. Order any quantity, any time.
Subscription
$19/mo
Post-publish analytics + Drive sync + quarterly marketing refresh. First year bundled with Stage 3.
Have a promo code? Enter it at checkout.
Each additional book at the same tier: 50% off.
Get startedFAQ
100% yours, from day one. You can export your full manuscript as .docx or Markdown at any moment with a single click. Your files live in your own Google Drive folder. If you leave, you walk out with everything; we keep nothing.
No. Stage 3 includes professional cover design, real ISBN registration, galley production, and distribution through the same channels traditional publishers use (Amazon, IngramSpark, Apple, Kobo, Google Play, Barnes & Noble Press, Draft2Digital, Smashwords). Readers can't tell the difference.
Reedsy is a freelancer marketplace — you assemble your own team and project-manage them. BookBaby is a hybrid publisher with packaged services. We're a guided platform: AI auto-revision in your voice handles the editorial pass that a freelancer would. You own the writing; the portal handles the surrounding workflow — interview transcription, idea synthesis, revision history, approvals, distribution to 8 channels, marketing kit. Reedsy gives you a contractor list. We give you the workspace.
No — that's the central concern, and we built around it. The Forge runs a strict voice protocol: you either pick from a mimic library (Hemingway, Didion, Vonnegut, McCarthy, Le Guin, Atwood, Murakami, King, Strayed, Coates) or upload 1,000+ words of your own writing and we derive a style guide. Every AI output is constrained to that voice, with off-voice detection. The AI never overrides your sentences; it suggests, you approve.
Stage 3 includes distribution setup to 8 retailers: Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble Press, Draft2Digital, and Smashwords. The portal tracks each channel's onboarding checklist, ASIN/ISBN per platform, and status (Not Started → Live → Published). You choose which channels to activate; some authors want everywhere, others focus on KDP + IngramSpark for the bookstore reach.
Yes. Stage 3 includes cover design but you can decline that part and bring a designer of your choice; we'll deduct the cover-design portion from your invoice. Same for audiobook narrators.
No. You keep 100% of what Amazon, IngramSpark, Apple, and every other retailer pays you. We charge a one-time fee per book. That's it. No success fees, no royalty splits, no surprises.
From a finished manuscript: 6–8 weeks to first retailer listings (ISBN + distribution lead times set the floor). From an idea: 4–6 months is typical for a Stage-3 book of 60–80k words. Traditional publishing usually takes 18–24 months for the same outcome.
Nothing — your project sits there waiting. We don't charge recurring fees on completed projects, and there's no time limit on Stage 1/2/3 packages. Pause for a year, come back, pick up exactly where you left off. The only thing that auto-bills is the optional Author Portal subscription ($19/mo) if you opted into post-publish analytics.
It means the AI handles the bottlenecks that don't add author value: weekly synthesis of your scattered notes into chapter-angle proposals, voice-constrained sentence-level suggestions on demand, full chapter auto-revision in your voice, marketing copy generation, audiobook narration (optional). Every word of prose stays in your control — you approve or reject every change. The author writes the book; the AI handles the friction.
Your data, your book
Export to .docx or .md anytime with one click. Source files live in your Google Drive folder, not ours. If you leave us, your files don't move — they were always yours.
No subscription locks the editor relationship. No recurring fees on completed books. The only optional recurring charge is the post-publish Author Portal ($19/mo) — and you can cancel it any time from the dashboard.
We never take a cut of what your book earns. Amazon pays you directly. IngramSpark pays you directly. Audible pays you directly. We're a service fee on the production work — not a participant in your book's revenue.
Tell us where you are and we will recommend a path. Stage 1, 2, 3, Marketing-Only, or à la carte.